


things you never said at all

by kathillards



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: Background Character Death, F/M, Hints of suicidal ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 06:25:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7924042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathillards/pseuds/kathillards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not all of us were lucky enough to die. —- ScottTenaya</p>
            </blockquote>





	things you never said at all

_I’m sorry for your loss._

She doesn’t really know the day of his brother’s death before the anniversary comes again, but she gets the feeling from the quiet, stillborn air of the morning that there is a memory of murder in the house today.

Tenaya knows a lot about memories of murder. She watches how the others are softer around Scott, gentler, the way Summer presses a hot cup of coffee into his hands, the way Flynn lets his hand linger on Scott’s shoulder in comfort. He drinks his coffee in silence, then leaves before anyone else wakes up.

Dillon comes down later and tells her to be nice to Scott today. Tenaya doesn’t say anything, just watches the milk swirl around in her tea, forming patterns blindly, thinking about brothers and death and what it means to survive.

The first thing she says when he comes back from his brother’s bodyless grave is, “You done brooding, Truman?”

Summer’s head whips around, blonde curls flying in outrage. “ _Tenaya_.”

Scott eyes her strangely. “Am I done – _what_?” Like he can’t believe she has the nerve. Like nobody can.

Tenaya rolls her eyes and sidesteps him for the door. “I’m going for a ride,” she says, words aimed at Dillon behind her. “I’m taking your bike.”

“Don’t come back soon,” Ziggy mutters sarcastically. Dillon elbows him, but doesn’t disagree.

“You know what,” Scott says suddenly, quickly. Tenaya stops in her path out the door. “I’ll go with you.”

_I wish we hadn’t met this way._

He wins the race they weren’t having, beating her to the park by a good five minutes. She blames herself; she’d taken too long wondering why he was accompanying her in the first place. When she gets there, he’s already standing exactly where she’d intended to go, by the oak tree where nobody else is.

“Why are you here?” she asks, stopping in front of him. Scott shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. Above them, the sky burns a brilliant, beautiful, utterly fake blue. Tenaya hates the dome. She hates Corinth. And she hates –

“I needed some fresh air,” he says casually. She hates that. “You see, it’s the anniversary of my brother’s death.” He says it like he’s daring her to do something, apologize, maybe, but also like he knows she won’t, like he knows she knew anyway.

“That sucks,” she agrees, pushing her way around him into the shade of the tree. “You still didn’t have to come with me.”

Scott turns as she does, his body towering over her from behind. She digs the heels of her boots into the soft grass and waits, listening to his breathing get sharper, shallower, the closer he comes. “Correct me if I’m wrong – ”

“You’re wrong.”

He continues anyway. “But I get the feeling you’re upset with me. Or at me. Or at something that’s related to me.”

Tenaya watches the wind rustle through the leaves of the tree. “Why would I be upset?”

 “I don’t know,” he says, and now he sounds a little frustrated. The emotion in his usually cool voice makes part of her jump inside, guilty for her enjoyment. Guilty for still liking the feeling of being able to get under his skin. “Are you mad that _I’m_ upset about my brother?”

“No,” she snaps, spinning around and finding him far closer than she’d anticipated. Her feet stumble back on instinct, but he catches her, fingers around her wrist, stilling her but not quieting her emotions. “I’m mad that everyone’s _coddling_ you.”

His eyebrows rise to heights she didn’t know were possible. “Why? Because I should just get over it? Not all of us were lucky enough to have our brothers survive – ”

“Not all of us were lucky enough to _die_!”

_I want you to tell me I didn’t deserve it._

Scott’s eyes widen. “Tenaya…” He moves closer, which is too close now, because he was already too close, and now she can’t remember how to breathe. Her nails dig into the flesh of her palm, leaving indentations or maybe blood; she’s too afraid to look. “You think my family got off lucky?”

“I think your brother died a hero, and that’s more than I’m going to get,” she tells him, voice shaking. Scott brings one hand up like he wants to touch her face, but she moves her head back and he doesn’t. “Don’t do this, Scott.”

She hasn’t called him _Scott_ before. His hand drops limply back to his side, his whole body deflating, like her broken, whispered word has taken all the air out of him.

“Can I tell you something?” he asks after a moment of just staring at her, watching her breathe, letting her avoid his eyes. The fake fresh air feels even more stifling than before, tangling in her throat so all she can do is nod. “It wasn’t you.”

Tenaya slants a glare at him. “Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Scott shakes his head. “It was Venjix. It was all Venjix. And you didn’t deserve it.”

She slides her hand up – the cybernetic one, looking painfully real under the sunshine – and presses it against his heart, over his red t-shirt, hard and insistent. His heart is racing. “It was _me_ , Scott. It was all me.”

“You were just a girl,” he murmurs. This time, his hand finds her face, brushing strands of hair out of her eyes. “You didn’t deserve it.”

Her fingers  curl, then crumple. Scott catches her again, this time pulling her close until all she can see is the black leather of his jacket and the warm brown of his skin and all she can feel is the way he holds her, hands soft around her, as she cries.


End file.
